Sean Williams

The nominations for the annual Scribe Award have been announced, and I'm very pleased to see Star Wars:The Force Unleashed II on the list. Presented by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, the awards acknowledge excellence in the field of licensed tie-ins--novels based on TV, movies and games--and I'm absolutely chuffed to have one of my books nominated. It's the first time, and quite an honour. The results will be announced at a special ceremony at the San Diego Comic-Con in July.

This reminds me that there has been some good press recently for my Star Wars novels, so here are reviews and news that I've been remiss in posting.

The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance was voted one of the top ten best Star Wars novels of 2010 over at Village Gate. It's been described as "an outstanding addition to the Expanded Universe” (EUCantina) and “one of the most solidly entertaining Star Wars novels I’ve read” (Fantasy Book Review), with “space battles, lightsaber fights, chase scenes and lots of strange planets to visit, not to mention scheming Sith lords – everything you’d want out of a great Star Wars book” (Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’). So that's awesome. 

The first Force Unleashed instalment continues to garner reviews: “This is a great book with lots of action and some interesting plot twists. I highly recommend it.” (Ezine@rticles) “[A] book that even manages to resonate on an emotional level with a belter of a finale”. (HorrorScope) And the sequel has been getting a bit of love too, apart from the Scribe nomination. “If you were a fan of The Force Unleashed, you'll definitely want to see where this next installment leads.” (SF Site) And Itchy Thumbs described it as “an enjoyable look at the early Rebel Alliance...altogether making for a worthwhile read”.

I'm making notes for a Star Wars short story this week (more later, I hope) so it's a great time to get good news on that front.
 

From my signing session for The Fixers at Angust & Robertson Edwardstown on Saturday:


And yes, that's a copy of Castle of the Zombies he's reading. This, and Planet of the Cyborgs, are out now!

Music is my other love. In a parallel universe, I chose composition over novels and am now writing soundtracks for TV or strange electronic music for an audience of, say, twenty. So you can imagine my delight to be the first ever author interviewed for Tracksounds: the Film Music and SoundtracksExperience! The interview was ostensibly to promote The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, but inevitably drifted. You can download my excited ramble as either a podcast or a transcript and marvel at what might have been...

Thursday
2.30-3.30: signing

Friday
1.00: on stage
2.00-2.45: signing
3.00: on stage & signing
5.00-7.00: Star Wars Community Event

Saturday
3.00-4.00: signing

Sunday
11.00-12.00: signing

This’ll all be in the Star Wars Pavilion, except for the community event (TBD).

So if you’re planning to be in San Diego next week, come along and say hi!

Speaking of covers, I am blessed with some beauties in the coming months. Isn't the collection on the left, Tehani Wessely's Australis Imaginarium, just stunning?

The second one probably needs no explanation beyond red red red! I am very slightly disappointed that the cover doesn't feature my Jedi Padawan character (who is physically modelled on Alexander Skarsgard, aka Eric Northman of True Blood--yum) but, you know, I can't have everything. :-)

The rightmost pair are from the first two of my Fixers books for young readers, the series that has everything. Look closely: yes, that is a cyborg pirate on book two. What do you think? They'll be printed in blue foil, which will probably blind the dear little blighters before they can get their hands on them.

The official announcement came and went without me noticing (whoops) so I am unintentionally tardy in confirming that I am indeed writing Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, the first novel tie-in to the LucasArts/Bioware MMORG due next year: Both game and the book are set “more than 3,500 years in the past of the far-away galaxy...when the Jedi and the Galactic Republic clashed with the Sith Empire.” Sound like fun? It was. The book is epic, hardback, and due in July 2010.

I say "probably" in the subject line, btw, because the first two titles in The Fixers series (Castle of Zombies and Planet of Cyborgs) are due the same month. It's anyone's guess at this stage which one will actually come out first.

A while back I was interviewed by Valerie at the Sydney Writers' Centre. The podcast and transcript are now available right here.

It's handy having a transcript because sometimes I forget what I've burbled on about. This time I can tell you with 100% confidence (and reveal via the tabs below) that we covered pretty much everything. :-)

Want an excerpt from The Grand Conjunction? What about reviews, interviews and shameless plugs? I am brimming over with links today, so I'm posting them all at once. Here's your chance to find out what my name looks like in Bulgarian (me, I've been dying to find out) and to learn which novella legendary Lou Anders recommends for the Hugo.

First up, the Book Show interview I mentioned a couple of weeks back is available as an MP3 download here. For readers outside Australia, I should explain that is about as big as non-paid promotion gets for writers down here. Almost literary, you could say.

On the other side of the world, Gary Reynolds at Concept Sci-Fi has been wallowing in Astropolis. The fruits of his labour (to confuse a metaphor or two) are now online. First, there's an excerpt from and a review of Saturn Returns:

"really good space opera that is a joy to read"

Then there's a review of Cenotaxis:

"superbly written...either as a standalone story or as part of the Astropolis series"

In his latest Ezine, Gary has reprinted "The Seventh Letter" with original artwork.

And on his website, right now, is an exclusive preview of The Grand Conjunction, the third and last of the Astropolis novels. Enjoy.

Gary promises a review of Earth Ascendant soon (to sit alongside this excerpt) but for now I have just one to post, and it's a corker.

A couple of weeks ago I received advance notice of a Jan '09 review in F&SF by Chris Moriarty, which I've been sitting on like a wriggly kid. It contains this wonderful line:

"Words like riveting, gripping, and page-turning get tossed around pretty cavalierly, but they all apply to the Astropolis series."

It can't get much better than that, can it? Actually, it can. This is one of those reviews that had me nodding along, going "yes...yes...YES" at every other line. Chris gets what I'm trying to do, and I'm grateful for it. I'll post more of the review next year, or whenever the issue is in print.

Meanwhile Mark Chitty of Walker of Worlds "recommend[s] Cenotaxis without hesitation" and Stuart Mayne in the latest aurealisXpress waxed somewhat lyrical regarding The Dust Devils, saying that it "works on all fronts". Stuart also gave me my first ever review of a workshop, specifically a weekend intensive I ran at the Victorian Writers' Centre while everyone else partied at Conflux. He says: "It was an absolutely fantastic workshop and can whole-heartedly recommend a workshop with Sean Williams as an experience that will help your writing immeasurably." I am blushing at such kind words.

To round out this enormous list of links, Robert Thompson emailed this morning to say that The Grand Conjunction is on his list of 2009 highlights, while Lou Anders, guest blogging on Tor.com, chided everyone in the US for not buying more of my books:

"His stand-alone novella, Cenotaxis, published by independent press Monkeybrain Books, was one of my favorite reads of the year and my personal choice for the Best Novella Hugo in 2008. It ably demonstrates why some people feel the novella is the ideal length for SF, and I say that because it’s true, not because he kindly set the novel’s resolution in my own home town (albeit of the far future.)"

And Bulgaria? I was very pleased to be interviewed by Darth Sparhawk for Citadelata.com. You can see the results here.

I'd end on the exciting news I have to impart, but that can wait until next time. No one will read down this far anyway. :-)

(Today's titles, btw, from the songbook of hell are: "Disconcert 1-6", "Praedeludium 1", and "Disconcerto for Violin, No. 1 (occasionally in G Mixolydian)".)

What's it like?

Terrifying: the pressure to meet fan expectations, self-imposed or otherwise, is very high. Of course, you've worked as hard as you can at making this a success (at least as hard as you would on one of your original novels) and you have the support of the entire team at Del Rey, Lucas Licensing, etc (whose work this also represents), but there are no sure things. You could produce the next Darksaber, or you could fall on your face in a pile of bantha scat. The wait for reviews is agonising.

Thrilling: because the story you've been working on for so long is finally in the public domain. The lead-times for such novels can be alarmingly quick, but they can also be very long, particularly if the projects they're attached to are delayed. Knowing secret stuff about the birth of the rebellion for nigh on two years can give you an ulcer. Sometimes you want to stand on a rooftop and shout it out to the world. Once the book's out, the internet will do just fine.

Fun: Star Wars is popular with the kids. They come to the launches. (See the photo below, taken in Malibu last week.) Maybe they're less there for the book than for the costumers, but who wouldn't want to be part of that anyway? Who of our generation--those most likely to be writing Star Wars novels today--doesn't remember being a kid when Episode IV first hit the screen and wishing they could experience some of that magic for themselves? That, perhaps, is the ultimate buzz. You may not be Darth Vader, and you may not have the cool costume, but by god you've written dialogue for him and you've lived for a while in his head. If that doesn't fall under the definition of "fun" (perhaps "terrifying" too) then what does?

Exhausting: if kids love Star Wars, so do the media. It's good to take interviews and even better to go on tour, but for a writer more used to sitting behind a desk all day, it can be kinda tiring. You've got to pace yourself and remember that it'll all be over soon--because when it is over, you'll miss it. We are a perverse bunch. On principle.

Mind-blowing: when your editor emails you to tell you that your book will debut at #1 on the New York Times hardback bestseller list--and they're excited--where do you go from there?

The answer to that question is always: onto the next book. Star Wars is the cream on the cake--hell, it might be a whole tray of desserts. But original work is part of the writer's balanced diet, and at some point you have to get back to it. It's what got you to this point in the first place, remember? Star Wars doesn't hire authors without an existing solo track record. They know--as you should know--that fuelling one stokes the boiler of the other.

So get back to it. You've got another book out next week (The Dust Devils) and plenty of others to promote besides (hello The Crooked Letter trade paperback; welcome back Earth Ascendant). Grip the sides while the roller-coaster is rolling, and maybe you'll come out the other side intact. And vibed. And grateful. And writing.

All these things, and more.

ETA 1: I celebrated by drinking Bollinger, ordering in pizza, and watching Episode IV. What could be better than that?
ETA 2: More discussion here.



(Excuse the mobile-phone grain. I'm too lazy to carry a real camera with me, even to such important events as this. When will I learn?)

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Listening to: Biosphere - Birds Bly by Flapping Their Wings

Tom Huddleston ponders this perennial question in the current issue of Time Out magazine, with a quote or two from this old hack. Take a look.

Don't, however, get excited when it says that The Force Unleashed is available in a good bookshop right now. You still have to wait until August.

In the meantime, go out and buy John Harwood's The Séance. It's a corker!